Paper sheet pickup device and paper sheet processing apparatus

ABSTRACT

According to one embodiment, a paper sheet pickup device includes an input portion, pickup mechanism, and pickup assist mechanism. The pickup mechanism picks up, one by one, the paper sheets supplied to a pickup position. The pickup assist mechanism is arranged upstream of the pickup mechanism in the pickup direction of the paper sheet. The pickup assist mechanism includes a suction belt configured to be arranged to be able to travel in the pickup direction, an air drawing portion configured to suck a paper sheet to the suction belt through the suction belt, and a driving motor configured to drive the suction belt.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority fromprior Japanese Patent Application No. 2013-58580, filed Mar. 21, 2013,the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

Embodiments described herein relate generally to a paper sheet pickupdevice and paper sheet processing apparatus.

BACKGROUND

A paper sheet processing apparatus such as a postal matter processingapparatus which handles postcards, letters, and the like includes, e.g.,a pickup device, a determination device (OCR), a stacking device, areject (RJ) stacking device, a switchback device, a conveyance pathwhich connects the respective devices, and a gate which distributesconveyed paper sheets (postal matters) to the respective devices. Aplurality of paper sheets set at the supply portion of the pickup deviceare separated and picked up one by one by the pickup device, and fed tothe determination device. The determination device determines the papersheet, and decides the destination of the paper sheet, e.g., the RJstacking device or the stacking device. After that, the paper sheet isconveyed to the decided device via the conveyance path and gatemechanism, and undergoes various processes inside the device.

As the pickup device of the paper sheet processing apparatus, there hasbeen provided a suction pickup device which sucks a paper sheet by anegative pressure and picks it up. This pickup device sucks a papersheet present at a pickup position to a perforated belt by using theperforated belt and an air chamber, and picks up paper sheets one by oneby the perforated belt. In the pickup device, a suction roller isarranged upstream of the perforated belt. When there is an unalignedpaper sheet, the suction roller feeds the paper sheet to the pickupposition.

In the above-mentioned pickup device, the suction roller is connected toa vacuum pump and set to a low pressure. However, the surface of thesuction roller is made of a metal and has a small friction coefficient.In addition, a surface of the suction roller that sucks a paper sheet iscurved. For this reason, the suction roller cannot tightly suck a papersheet, and it is difficult to exert a satisfactory feeding force.

Object of the Invention

The present invention has as its object to provide a paper sheet pickupdevice capable of stably picking up a paper sheet at a high speed, and apaper sheet processing apparatus.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing a postal matterprocessing apparatus according to an embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the pickup device of the postal matterprocessing apparatus;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the input portion and pickupmechanism of the pickup device;

FIG. 4 is a plan view schematically showing the operations of the pickupmechanism and pickup assist mechanism of the pickup device; and

FIG. 5 is a plan view schematically showing the operations of the pickupmechanism and pickup assist mechanism of the pickup device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

According to one embodiment, a paper sheet pickup device includes aninput portion, pickup mechanism, and pickup assist mechanism. In theinput portion, a plurality of paper sheets are placed while overlappingeach other. The pickup mechanism picks up, one by one, the paper sheetssupplied to the pickup position of the input portion. The pickup assistmechanism is arranged upstream of the pickup mechanism in the pickupdirection of the paper sheet. The pickup assist mechanism includes asuction belt configured to be arranged to be able to travel in thepickup direction, an air drawing portion configured to suck a papersheet to the suction belt through the suction belt, and a driving motorconfigured to drive the suction belt. The pickup assist mechanism sucksa paper sheet to the suction belt to feed it to the pickup position, andwhile the pickup mechanism picks up the paper sheet, sucks and holds thenext paper sheet.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described indetail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing a postal matterprocessing apparatus (paper sheet processing apparatus) 100 including apaper sheet pickup device 10 according to the embodiment. In addition tothe pickup device 10, the postal matter processing apparatus 100includes a determination unit 102, rejection unit 104, switchback unit106, and stacking unit 108. Note that a paper sheet to be processed bythe processing apparatus 100 according to the embodiment is a postalmatter, but a medium to be processed (i.e., a paper sheet) is notlimited to a postal matter.

A stack of postal matters such as postcards or letters is set in thepickup device 10. The pickup device operates in a manner to be describedlater, picking up the postal matters one by one onto a conveyance path101. A plurality of pairs of endless conveyance belts (not shown) extendon the conveyance path 101 to sandwich it. The picked-up postal matteris nipped and conveyed by the conveyance belts.

The postal matter picked up on the conveyance path 101 is fed to thedetermination unit 102, and the determination unit 102 reads variouskinds of information from the postal matter. Based on the read variouskinds of information, the determination unit 102 determines theconveyance posture, sorting destination, and the like of the postalmatter. In particular, the determination unit 102 determines a sortingdestination by reading address information such as a postal code andaddress written on the postal matter.

After passing through the determination unit 102, the conveyancedirection of the postal matter is distributed via a gate G1. Morespecifically, a postal matter determined by the determination unit 102to be a postal matter to be rejected is conveyed to the rejection unit104 via the gate G1, and stacked on the rejection unit. Other postalmatters are conveyed to the stacking unit 108 via the gate G1 andstacked inside the stacking unit 108.

At this time, when the determination unit 102 determines that theconveyance direction of a postal matter needs to be reversed, the postalmatter is fed to the switchback unit 106 via the gate G1 and a gate G2to reverse the conveyance direction. A postal matter for which theconveyance direction need not be reversed detours the switchback unit106 via the gate G2 and is conveyed to the stacking unit 108.

A postal matter fed to the stacking unit 108 via the conveyance path 101is sorted and stacked in a sorting stacking pocket (not shown) inaccordance with the result of determination by the determination unit102. Postal matters are sorted and stacked in each sorting stackingpocket with their tops and bottoms being aligned.

Next, the paper sheet pickup device 10 will be explained in detail.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the pickup device 10. FIG. 3 is aperspective view showing the pickup device. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3,the pickup device 10 includes an input portion (supply portion) 24,supply mechanism 20, pickup mechanism 56, pickup assist mechanism 30,separation portion 53, gap correction portion 55, and conveyancemechanism 58. At the input portion 24, a stack of postal matters P isset while each postal matter stands almost perpendicularly to thehorizontal plane. The supply mechanism 20 moves a plurality of inputpostal matters P in the stacking direction to supply the postal matter Pat the leading end in a moving direction F to a pickup position S. Thepickup mechanism 56 feeds the postal matter P supplied to the pickupposition S in the plane direction of the postal matter P, in this case,a pickup direction D almost perpendicular to the moving direction F, andpicks it up onto the conveyance path 101. The pickup assist mechanism 30is arranged upstream of the pickup mechanism 56 in the pickup directionD, and assists pickup of the postal matter P. The separation portion 53separates, from the first postal matter P, the second and subsequentpostal matters P accompanying the postal matter P picked up from thepickup position S. The gap correction portion 55 corrects the gapbetween picked-up postal matters. The conveyance mechanism 58 extracts,at a speed slightly higher than the pickup speed, the postal matter Phaving passed through the gap correction portion 55, and conveys itdownstream.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the input portion 24 includes a flat bottomwall 24 a, a side wall (guide wall) 24 b which stands almostperpendicularly, and a front wall 24 c. A stack of postal matters P isplaced together on the bottom wall 24 a while they stand. One side edgeof the postal matters P is guided by the side wall 24 b. A main belt 126and a pair of sub-belts 125 are arranged on the bottom wall 24 a of theinput portion 24. The main belt 126 contacts the lower end side of eachpostal matter P and feeds the postal matter P in the stacking direction(direction indicated by the arrow F in FIGS. 2 and 3). The sub-belts 125adjust the posture (tilt) of the postal matter P. The main belt 126 andsub-belts 125 can be driven independently. The main belt 126 extendsalong almost the overall length of the input portion 24 in the feeddirection F. The sub-belts 125 are arranged on the two sides of the mainbelt 126 near the pickup position S.

A backup plate 9 is arranged at a position where it contacts the surfaceof the postal matter P at the back end in the moving direction among aplurality of postal matters P. The backup plate 9 is simply connectedto, e.g., the main belt 126. The backup plate 9 moves in the movingdirection F in synchronism with the main belt 126 to push the postalmatters P toward the pickup position, thereby supplying the postalmatter P at the leading end in the moving direction to the pickupposition S. The main belt 126, the sub-belts 125, the backup plate 9,and driving motors (not shown) for driving the main belt and sub-beltsfunction as the supply mechanism 20.

A plurality of paper sheets P are supported by the backup plate 9 andaligned along the side wall 24 b on the main belt 126. A sensor (notshown) detects the presence/absence of the paper sheet P near the pickupposition S. When the paper sheet P does not exist near the pickupposition S, the backup plate 9 and main belt 126 move toward the pickupposition to supply the paper sheet P at the leading end to the pickupposition S.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the pickup mechanism 56 includes an airchamber 52, a vacuum pump 61 (or equivalent) serving as an air drawingsource connected to the air chamber via a valve device (not shown), anendless pickup belt 79 serving as a pickup member which sucks and picksup the postal matter P, and a driving motor 81 which drives the pickupbelt 79. A plurality of through holes (suction holes) 84 are formed inthe pickup belt 79. The pickup belt 79 is wound and stretched around aplurality of pulleys 80 and a driving pulley 83 so that at least apartial region of the pickup belt 79 faces the postal matter P presentat the pickup position S and travels in the pickup direction D (pickupdirection of the postal matter P) along the pickup position S. Thepickup belt 79 travels in a predetermined direction at a predeterminedspeed of, e.g., 4 m/s by the driving motor 81.

The air chamber 52 is positioned on the rear surface side of the pickupbelt 79, i.e., on a side opposite to the postal matter P so that the airchamber 52 is adjacent to and faces the postal matter P. The vacuum pump61 sets a negative or positive pressure in the air chamber 52. When anegative pressure is set, the air chamber 52 operates to suck and feedthe postal matter P by the pickup belt 79. When a positive pressure isset, the air chamber 52 operates to separate the postal matter from thepickup belt without sucking the postal matter P. The vacuum pump 61 andair chamber 52 constitute an air drawing portion.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the pickup assist mechanism 30 includes asub-air chamber 60 arranged upstream of the pickup belt 79 in the pickupdirection D, a negative pressure generator (blower drawing side) 62connected to the sub-air chamber, an endless suction belt 64 which sucksand feeds the postal matter P, and a driving motor (step motor) 66 whichdrives the suction belt 64. A plurality of through holes (suction holes)67 are formed in the suction belt 64. The negative pressure generator 62and sub-air chamber 60 constitute an air drawing portion.

The sub-air chamber 60 has a front end opening which is open to theinput portion 24, and a guide plate 40 which covers the front endopening. The guide plate 40 is formed into a rectangular shape, and isarranged to be almost flush with the front wall 24 c of the inputportion 24. A plurality of drawing holes 42 are formed in the entiresurface of the guide plate 40. The drawing holes 42 communicate with theinside of the sub-air chamber. The suction belt 64 is wound andstretched around a plurality of pulleys 44 and a driving pulley 45 sothat at least a partial region of the suction belt 64 is positioned tooverlap part of the front surface of the guide plate 40, faces thepostal matter P in the input portion 24, and travels in the pickupdirection D (pickup direction of the postal matter P) beside the pickupbelt 79. The suction belt 64 is formed to have about ⅓ of the width ofthe pickup belt 79. The suction belt 64 travels at a speed equal to orlower than 1/100 of the feed speed of the pickup belt 79, e.g., at 40mm/s in the pickup direction D by the driving motor 66.

The pickup assist mechanism 30 operates to draw the postal matter P at aposition spaced apart from the sub-air chamber 60 and move it to thepickup position S. In addition, the pickup assist mechanism 30 sucks andstops the second postal matter P after the trailing end of the firstpostal matter P passes through the sub-air chamber. As a result, thepickup assist mechanism 30 operates to prevent pickup of two postalmatters P.

More specifically, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, when an unaligned postalmatter P1 is supplied and set at a position (position on the upstreamside of the pickup belt 79 in the pickup direction D) where the postalmatter P1 does not contact the pickup belt 79, the pickup belt 79 of thepickup mechanism 56 cannot pick up the postal matter P1. In this case,the pickup assist mechanism 30 sucks the postal matter P1 to the suctionbelt 64 by the sub-air chamber 60, and drives the suction belt 64 in thepickup direction D to feed the postal matter P1 to the pickup mechanism56.

Accordingly, the pickup mechanism 56 can continuously perform the pickupoperation of the postal matter P1. At this time, the traveling speed ofthe suction belt 64 is equal to or lower than 1/100 of the feed speed ofthe pickup belt 79. After the postal matter P1 is fed from the suctionbelt 64 onto the pickup belt 79, it is drawn by the pickup belt 79 andeasily separated from the suction belt 64.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 5, in a normal pickup operation, after the firstpostal matter P at the pickup position S is fed in the pickup directionD by the pickup belt 79, the sub-air chamber 60 of the pickup assistmechanism 30 draws a second postal matter P2 through the drawing holes42 of the guide plate 40 and the through holes 67 of the suction belt 64to pull the postal matter P2 to the pickup position S, and in addition,sucks the postal matter P2 to the guide plate 40 and suction belt 64.The suction belt 64 travels at a feed speed much lower than that of thepickup belt 79. Hence, the pickup assist mechanism 30 stops the postalmatter P2 to prevent simultaneous pickup of two postal matters P.

The suction belt 64 projects toward the input portion 24 from thesurface of the guide plate 40 by the thickness of the suction belt 64.Part of the postal matter P2 is sucked to the suction belt 64, and aportion off the suction belt 64 is sucked to the guide plate 40,deforming the postal matter P2. As a result, a gap is generated betweenthe postal matter P2 and a next postal matter (third postal matter) notsucked, making it easy to separate the postal matter P2.

As shown in FIG. 2, the separation portion 53 of the pickup device 10includes a two-sheet pickup preventing block 31, and the preventingblock faces a conveyance belt 72 at a gap G. An evacuation hole 28 isformed in the two-sheet pickup preventing block 31, and connected to anegative pressure generation device (vacuum pump) (not shown). When thepickup mechanism 56 simultaneously picks up two postal matters P, thetwo-sheet pickup preventing block 31 sucks and stops the preventingblock-side postal matter not to simultaneously feed the two postalmatters to the gap correction portion 55.

The gap correction portion 55 includes a sponge roller 68 and driveroller 70 which are arranged to face each other via the conveyance path.The sponge roller 68 is an elastic flexible roller, and can deform by achange of the thickness of the postal matter P. The drive roller 70 isdirectly driven by an AC servo motor (not shown). The postal matter Ppicked up by the pickup mechanism 56 is nipped between the sponge roller68 and the drive roller 70. Rotation of the drive roller 70 isaccelerated/decelerated in accordance with an instruction from acontroller (not shown) to change the conveyance speed of the postalmatter P and adjust the interval (gap) from a preceding postal matter P.More specifically, when the interval (gap) from a preceding postalmatter P is smaller than a predetermined value, the gap correctionportion 55 decreases the conveyance speed of the postal matter P towiden the interval (gap) from the preceding postal matter. When theinterval (gap) is larger than the predetermined value, the gapcorrection portion 55 increases the conveyance speed of the postalmatter P to narrow the interval.

As shown in FIG. 2, the conveyance mechanism 58 includes the endlessconveyance belt 72, endless conveyance belts 74 and 75, and drivingmotors (not shown) for driving the conveyance belts 74 and 75. Theconveyance belt 72 is rotated by the power of the conveyance belt 74 viaa relay belt 76. The conveyance belts 72 and 74 are installed side byside along the conveyance path. The conveyance belt 75 is installed toface the conveyance belts 72 and 74 via the conveyance path. The postalmatter P picked up by the pickup mechanism 56 is conveyed by theconveyance belt 72 and the drive roller 70 of the gap correction portion55. The postal matter P is further nipped between the conveyance belts74 and 75 and conveyed by them. A roller 78 arranged at a portion wherethe conveyance belt 75 faces the conveyance belt 72 is a spring tensionroller. When a thick postal matter P is conveyed to the conveyancemechanism 58, it pushes the spring tension roller 78 and is fed to theinterval between the conveyance belts.

Note that a plurality of sensors 82 are arranged on the conveyance path101 to detect the passing postal matter P.

In the pickup device 10 having the above-described arrangement, as shownin FIG. 2, the vacuum pump 61 is operated to evacuate the inside of theair chamber 52 at a maximum drawing force and set a negative pressure.Then, the negative pressure acts on the postal matter P supplied to thepickup position S via the large number of through holes 84 of the pickupbelt 79 traveling in the direction indicated by the arrow D, therebysucking the postal matter P to the surface of the pickup belt 79. Thesucked postal matter P is picked up from the pickup position S onto theconveyance path 101 along with the travel of the pickup belt 79. Afterthe air chamber 52 is evacuated for a predetermined period to pick upthe postal matter P, the evacuation is stopped, and in addition apositive pressure in the air chamber 52. Accordingly, the suction of thepostal matter P is canceled, and the postal matter P is separated fromthe pickup belt 79. After the trailing end of the first postal matter Ppasses through the sub-air chamber 60, the sub-air chamber 60 sucks thesecond postal matter to the suction belt 64 and stops it to preventpickup of two postal matters. Further, the suction belt 64 sucks thepostal matter P and feeds it to the downstream side in the pickupdirection D. By repeating these operations in a predetermined cycle, thepickup device 10 picks up one by one the postal matters P placed on theinput portion 24, and feeds them to the conveyance path 101.

The pickup mechanism 56 feeds the postal matters P at the pickupposition S one by one onto the conveyance path 101. When a plurality ofpostal matters P are fed onto the conveyance path 101 while overlappingeach other, the separation portion 53 separates them one by one.

In the pickup device 10 of the postal matter processing apparatus havingthe above-described arrangement, the pickup assist mechanism 30including the suction belt 64 and sub-air chamber 60 is arrangedupstream of the pickup mechanism 56. Even when unaligned postal mattersare supplied, they can be successively picked up. Also, pickup of twopostal matters can be prevented by the frictional force of the suctionbelt. Accordingly, a paper sheet pickup device capable of stably pickingup paper sheets at a high speed is obtained.

In the embodiment, for example, a paper sheet to be processed is notlimited to a postal matter, and the present invention is applicable tovarious paper sheets. The width and feed speed of the suction belt arenot limited to those in the above-described embodiment, and variouswidths and feed speeds can be selected.

While certain embodiments have been described, these embodiments havebeen presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit thescope of the inventions. Indeed, the novel embodiments described hereinmay be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, variousomissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the embodimentsdescribed herein may be made without departing from the spirit of theinventions. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intendedto cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the scope andspirit of the inventions.

What is claimed is:
 1. A paper sheet pickup device comprising: an inputportion configured to place a plurality of paper sheets whileoverlapping each other; a pickup mechanism configured to pick up, one byone, the paper sheets supplied to a pickup position of the inputportion; and a pickup assist mechanism configured to be arrangedupstream of the pickup mechanism in a pickup direction of the papersheet, the pickup assist mechanism including a suction belt configuredto be arranged to be able to travel in the pickup direction, an airdrawing portion configured to suck a paper sheet to the suction beltthrough the suction belt, and a driving motor configured to drive thesuction belt, and the pickup assist mechanism sucking a paper sheet tothe suction belt to feed the paper sheet to the pickup position, andwhile the pickup mechanism picks up the paper sheet, sucking and holdinga next paper sheet.
 2. The paper sheet pickup device according to claim1, wherein the pickup mechanism includes a pickup belt configured topick up a paper sheet present at the pickup position, an air drawingportion configured to evacuate through the pickup belt and suck thepaper sheet to the pickup belt, and a driving motor configured to drivethe pickup belt to travel in the pickup direction, and the driving motorof the pickup assist mechanism drives the suction belt at a speed lowerthan a traveling speed of the pickup belt.
 3. The paper sheet pickupdevice according to claim 2, wherein a width of the suction belt isformed to be smaller than a width of the pickup belt.
 4. The paper sheetpickup device according to claim 1, wherein the air drawing portion ofthe pickup assist mechanism includes a sub-air chamber configured to beopen to the paper sheets in the input portion, a negative pressuregenerator configured to evacuate an inside of the sub-air chamber, and aguide plate configured to cover the opening of the sub-air chamber, facethe paper sheets, and include a plurality of evacuation holes, and thesuction belt includes a plurality of suction holes, and is arranged onthe guide plate to overlap the guide plate.
 5. The paper sheet pickupdevice according to claim 2, wherein the air drawing portion of thepickup assist mechanism includes a sub-air chamber configured to be opento the paper sheets in the input portion, a negative pressure generatorconfigured to evacuate an inside of the sub-air chamber, and a guideplate configured to cover the opening of the sub-air chamber, face thepaper sheets, and include a plurality of evacuation holes, and thesuction belt includes a plurality of suction holes, and is arranged onthe guide plate to overlap the guide plate.
 6. The paper sheet pickupdevice according to claim 3, wherein the air drawing portion of thepickup assist mechanism includes a sub-air chamber configured to be opento the paper sheets in the input portion, a negative pressure generatorconfigured to evacuate an inside of the sub-air chamber, and a guideplate configured to cover the opening of the sub-air chamber, face thepaper sheets, and include a plurality of evacuation holes, and thesuction belt includes a plurality of suction holes, and is arranged onthe guide plate to overlap the guide plate.
 7. A paper sheet processingapparatus including a paper sheet pickup device defined in claim 1,comprising: a determination unit configured to determine a sortingdestination of a paper sheet picked up by the paper sheet pickup device;and a stacking unit configured to stack the paper sheet sorted based ona result of the determination of the sorting destination by thedetermination unit.
 8. A paper sheet processing apparatus including apaper sheet pickup device defined in claim 2, comprising: adetermination unit configured to determine a sorting destination of apaper sheet picked up by the paper sheet pickup device; and a stackingunit configured to stack the paper sheet sorted based on a result of thedetermination of the sorting destination by the determination unit.
 9. Apaper sheet processing apparatus including a paper sheet pickup devicedefined in claim 3, comprising: a determination unit configured todetermine a sorting destination of a paper sheet picked up by the papersheet pickup device; and a stacking unit configured to stack the papersheet sorted based on a result of the determination of the sortingdestination by the determination unit.
 10. A paper sheet processingapparatus including a paper sheet pickup device defined in claim 4,comprising: a determination unit configured to determine a sortingdestination of a paper sheet picked up by the paper sheet pickup device;and a stacking unit configured to stack the paper sheet sorted based ona result of the determination of the sorting destination by thedetermination unit.
 11. A paper sheet processing apparatus including apaper sheet pickup device defined in claim 5, comprising: adetermination unit configured to determine a sorting destination of apaper sheet picked up by the paper sheet pickup device; and a stackingunit configured to stack the paper sheet sorted based on a result of thedetermination of the sorting destination by the determination unit. 12.A paper sheet processing apparatus including a paper sheet pickup devicedefined in claim 6, comprising: a determination unit configured todetermine a sorting destination of a paper sheet picked up by the papersheet pickup device; and a stacking unit configured to stack the papersheet sorted based on a result of the determination of the sortingdestination by the determination unit.